CCCCatalyzing the computing research community and enabling the pursuit of innovative, high-impact research.
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Youtube
  • Rss
  • About
    • About CCC
    • Council Members
    • Council Meetings
    • CCC Council Nominations
    • Governing Documents
    • FAQ
    • Contact
  • Visioning
    • RFP – Creating Visions for Computing Research
    • Blue Sky
    • Computing Visions 2025
    • Visioning Activities
      • 2019
      • 2018
      • 2017
      • 2016
      • 2015
      • 2014
      • 2013
      • 2012
      • 2011 and Prior Years
    • Workshop Reports
  • Leadership Development
    • Call for Council Nominations
    • Big Data Regional Hubs
    • Leadership in Science Policy Institute
    • Postdoc Best Practices
      • Postdoc Best Practice Final Reports
      • Postdoc Best Practice Resources
    • CIFellows
      • CI Fellows 2014 Workshop
      • 2011 Class
      • 2010 Class
      • 2009 Class
      • Assessment
      • Success Stories
      • Diversity
  • Task Forces
    • AI Working Group
    • Industry Collaboration Working Group
    • Cybersecurity and Cybercrime
    • Health and Human Computer Interaction
    • Information Integrity and Provenance
    • Intelligent Infrastructure
    • Fairness and Accountability
    • Systems and Architecture
    • Past Task Forces
  • Resources
    • Workshop Reports
    • CCC-Led White Papers
    • Presentations
    • CCC Responds to the Community
    • Recent CCC Activities
    • Ongoing CCC Activities
    • Computing Research in Action
    • Computing Research Highlights
    • Great Innovative Ideas
    • Event Videos
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Special Events
    • Past Events
    • CCC at AAAS
      • CCC at AAAS 2019
      • CCC at AAAS 2018
      • CCC at AAAS 2017
      • CCC at AAAS 2016
      • CCC at AAAS 2013
  • Blog
  • CCC by CS Area
  • Podcast
  • Search
  • Menu

Economics and Fairness


May 22-23, 2019

Cambridge MA
1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, USA



Event Contact

Ann Drobnis
adrobnis@cra.org


Event Type

2019 Events, 2019 Visioning Activities, Workshop


Event Category

CCC


Tags

AI, Alexa, algorithmic decision making, data driven, data science, economic inequality, economics, equity, fairness and accountability, IoT, machine learning, privacy

Overview

The Computing Community Consortium’s (CCC) Fairness and Accountability Task Force will hold a visioning workshop on Economics and Fairness, May 22-23, 2019 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This workshop will bring together computer science researchers with backgrounds in algorithmic decision making, machine learning, and data science with policy makers, legal experts, economists, and business leaders to discuss methods to ensure economic fairness in a data-driven world.

The workshop will address five main areas:

Data Concentration

  • Machine learning (ML), regression, etc. are essentially commodities; as a result, the data is the primary source of differentiation. Should we be concerned with the concentration of data in a small set of hands? If so, how do we guard against this?

Algorithmic Decision Making

  • With many consequential decisions being delegated to algorithms, how do we ensure that such decisions comply with both the spirit and letter of the law, as well as with ethical/societal fairness considerations?

Algorithmic Recommendation

  • In many settings algorithms make recommendations rather than decisions. How do humans interpret and make use of these recommendations? In particular, can the combination be worse than either one on its own? Particular focus will be paid to the following three domains: 1) Interaction between crime prediction and judicial decision making, 2) news feeds and misinformation, 3) marketing and consumer decisions (e.g, search by voice).

Implications for Platforms

  • New technologies have disrupted traditional industries (taxi, hotel) by reducing barriers to entry and lowering the costs of search and coordination. The traditional structure made regulating them easier and ensuring that they complied with extant norms. The new forms disperse decision making (to various degrees). Who is responsible for ensuring compliance? If it is the platform, how can algorithms be used to ensure compliance with the law and/or norms. For example, how does AirBnB ensure compliance with fair housing? How does Uber ensure equality of earning opportunities for drivers?

Equality of Opportunity

  • Much of the fairness discussion in the context of ML has been on fairness of outcomes with less attention paid to measuring equality of opportunity and/or ensuring access to opportunity. However, all three areas warrant consideration when discussing fairness. What constitutes fair equality of opportunity, and what role do algorithms play in ensuring economic equality through data driven decisions?

The goal of the workshop is to produce a report or white paper that articulates best practices and research challenges with regards to fairness and economics, as well as provides a sense of direction for the field. This workshop is by invitation only, but if you or someone you know is interested in participating, please email Ann Drobnis at adrobnis@cra.org for consideration.

Agenda

May 22, 2019 (Wednesday)

07:30 AM BREAKFAST
08:30 AM Welcome and Introductions
08:45 AM Economics View on Fairness

Mallesh Pai, Rice- “Can Free Markets lead to Fair Markets?”

09:30 AM Computer Science View on Fairness

Sharad Goel, Stanford– “The Measure and Mismeasure of Fairness: A Critical Review of Fair Machine Learning”

10:15 AM BREAK
10:30 AM Algorithm Decision Making

Prasanna Tambe, Wharton- “Artificial Intelligence in Human Resources Management: Challenges and a Path Forward”

Lindsey Zuloaga, HierVue- “Algorithms for Hire”

Bo Cowgill, Columbia- “Economics, Fairness and Algorithmic Bias”

Discussant: Matt Weinberg, Princeton  

12:30 PM LUNCH
01:45 PM Lightning Round / Rump Session
02:30 PM BREAK
03:00 PM Platforms

Daniel Knoefle, Uber- “Pricing Efficiently in Designed Markets: Evidence from Ride-Sharing”

Karen Levy, Cornell University- “Trade-offs in Designing Against Discrimination”

Mike Luca, HBS- “Discrimination in Online Marketplaces”

Discussant: Ayelet Israeli, HBS  

05:00 PM BREAK
05:15 PM Discussion/Synthesis
06:30 PM DINNER

May 23, 2019 (Thursday)

07:30 AM BREAKFAST
08:50 AM Algorithm Recommendations

Megan Stevenson, George Mason- “Algorithmic Risk Assessment in the Hands of Humans”

Michael D. Ekstrand, Boise State- “Recommendations, Decisions, Feedback Loops, and Maybe Saving the Planet”

Katrina Ligett, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem- “Humans and algorithms, deciding together”

Discussant: Aaron Roth, University of Pennsylvania

10:50 AM BREAK
11:00 AM Lightning Round/Rump Session
11:45 AM LUNCH
01:00 PM Equality of Opportunity

John E. Roemer, Yale – “Equalizing Opportunities through policy: A primer.”

Rediet Abebe, Cornell University – “Mechanism Design for Social Good”

Discussant: Dirk Bergemann, Yale University

03:00 PM Working Session
05:00 PM Adjourn
Organizers

Organizing Committee:

David Parkes, Harvard University
Parkes
Rakesh Vohra, University of Pennsylvania
Vohra
Logistics

The CCC will cover travel expenses for all participants who desire it. Participants are asked to make their own travel arrangements to get to the workshop, including purchasing airline tickets. Following the symposium, CCC will circulate a reimbursement form that participants will need to complete and submit, along with copies of receipts for amounts exceeding $75.

In general, standard Federal travel policies apply: CCC will reimburse for non-refundable economy airfare on U.S. Flag carriers; and no alcohol will be covered.

For more information, please see the Guidelines for Participant Reimbursements from CCC.

Additional questions about the reimbursement policy should be directed to Ann Drobnis, CCC Director (adrobnis [at] cra.org).

CRA - Uniting Industry, Academia and Government to Advance Computing Research and Change the World.
CCC - Catalyzing the computing research community and enabling the pursuit of innovative, high-impact research.
CRA-W - Increasing the success and participation of women in computing research.
CRA-E - Addressing society’s need for a continuous supply of talented and well-educated computing researchers.
CERP - Promoting diversity in computing through evaluation and research.
CRA Home | Contact Us | Unsubscribe/Removal of Information | Terms of Use         © Copyright 2019 - CRA
Code 8.7: Using Computational Science and AI to End Modern Slavery AI Roadmap
Scroll to top